U.N. human rights
experts on Friday said the trial of a prominent Vietnamese blogger did not meet
international standards and appeared to be aimed at intimidating environmental
activists.

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu
Quynh, also known as "Mother Mushroom," was sentenced in a one-day trial
Thursday to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of defaming the
Communist government in Facebook posts and in interviews with foreign media.

Quynh, 37, has
written about human rights, civilian deaths in police custody and the release of
toxic chemicals by a Taiwanese-owned steel plant in April 2016 that killed
thousands of fish in one of Vietnam's worst environmental disasters.

"This was little
short of a show trial, designed to intimidate other environmental activists,"
the U.N. human rights experts said in a statement released in Geneva. "The trial
did not meet international standards. She has been denied her fundamental right
to due process."

They said they
feared that Vietnam's government is increasingly targeting bloggers and
organizers of peaceful protests to prevent wider civic and environmental
activism.

Quynh "has done
no more than promote human rights through social media, and protect the
environment from harm. In no country, including Vietnam, should this be regarded
as a crime," the experts said.

Quynh's
sentencing also drew strong rebukes from several human rights groups and the
U.S. State Department.

Responding to the
calls for Quynh's release, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu
Hang said the trial was held in accordance with Vietnamese law.

"Like other
countries in the world, in Vietnam, all law-violating acts must be strictly
dealt with in accordance with the regulations of Vietnamese law," Hang said in
news briefing Thursday.

Last month, a
U.N. working group on arbitrary detention found that Quynh's detention was
arbitrary and urged her release.

The U.N. experts
included special rapporteurs on human rights related to the environment, freedom
of opinion and expression, the situation of human rights defenders, hazardous
wastes, and arbitrary detention.